AH 275 - Paris Museums

This course will approach the history of French Art from a chronological perspective, from the 18th century to modern art, as seen in the museums of Paris. Our route will begin at the Louvre with Nicolas Poussin (17th century) and will finish with the avant-garde (Fauvism and Cubism). Along the way, we will visit Neo-Classicism (David), Romanticism (Géricault, Delacroix), the Realists (Courbet, Manet), the Impressionists (Monet, Renoir, Degas), and many others. Each class/visit will be devoted to a work, a historical movement, or a specific artist. Our visits will take us to different types of museums, from the most renowned to the lesser known, from the most traditional to the most original: the large, national museums (Le Louvre, Musée d’Orsay), art collectors’ former houses (Le Musée Jacquemart-Andre, le Musée Marmottan Monet), artist studios (Musée Delacroix, Musee Gustave Moreau), and places of study and production (L’Institute de France, L’ecole Nationale des Beaux-arts). In order to maintain a diverse approach and to benefit from our presence here in Paris, we will devote two classes to locations that have inspired artists. We will give priority to Impressionism, visiting Montmartre (where Renoir painted Le Bal au Moulin de la Galette), and Montparnasse, where the avant-garde found its home in 1910.